Gristle would have loved this. She had thought that many times since she had left the Shore, six years past. My imaginary friends would have loved this. She’d thought it the first time that she’d seen the city, lit up like never-ending Christmas. But they never came when she was in Philadelphia. And now she was sixteen and felt like she had no imagination left.
— Chapter 1

Kaye kicked a flattened soda can down the street ahead of her. Even she could see that she was going in no good direction, and not just literally.
— Chapter 4

Hindsight is always 20/20 – or so it is said. With this in mind I picked up the very first book of an author I have discovered through one of her later works. You know how with bands the original fans often dislike the new fans or claim that their band has gone mainstream and no longer sounds the same? I sure hope that bands are able to develop their style and try new things; and if they acquire a bigger following while they do it, good for them. Why this? Because the new fan of a music band might also flip back to the band’s older works and discover that they probably wouldn’t have liked the music had it stayed that way. With authors this is indeed similar enough to be also very different. This book has now been published over a decade ago and the author is still active. You can already see the fine writing skills in this and if you know her current work, admire the advancement. And now imagine if 10+ years have shaped this difference, how much better will the author be in another 5 years? Musicians play with their style and often return to their roots, but authors, in my experience, usually get better with the more books they write. There is a beauty in the thought of growing with your author from their debut, but if you get a chance to get an outside view to compare and contrast a writing period, that is also quite an interesting experience.

Have you ever gone back to an author’s early work after discovering them through a later book? I imagine that many John Green fans started out with The Fault in Our Stars and only later read Looking for Alaska or Papertowns ... especially now that there is another movie right around the corner.

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comments:

It is interesting to see how a writer's style changes as the write and publish more books. I read Tithe years ago, probably when it first came out, and have only sampled some of Black's newer stuff. Too many books, too little time. I'm on the linky if you want to see what I'm teasing this week. Happy reading!

I enjoy reading early works of an author after reading one of their later works. Like you said, it's interesting to see where they came from and how they've improved. I've found a lot of times that I do this especially after I've read something in an anthology by someone. Tithe sounds interesting.My Teaser